WILKES-BARRE -- Newswatch 16 was there when police arrested Adam Migatulski on Bradford Street in Wilkes-Barre. Officers said he admitted to robbing three stores in Wilkes-Barre and one in Pringle to support a heroin and cocaine addiction.

Police found Migatulski sleeping on Friday around 11 a.m. in Mustang that didn’t belong to him.

Lenny Gutowski lives nearby where Migatulski was found. He was cautiously optimistic about the robber’s arrest.

“I’m sure somebody is going to take his place in another day or two. That's the way it goes around here,” Gutowski said.

Just about a block away from where he was arrested, Migatulski started the robbing spree on Wednesday at Peter’s Ice Cream. Police said he took off with $300.

Next, officers said Migatulski went to Curry Donuts on Hazle Street Thursday around noon.

Regina Southard was behind the cash register when Migatulski told her to give him all the money she had, pointing at what looked like a gun.

“So I gave him the cash and I said, ‘Do you want the change?’ And I went to reach for a bag, and I think that kind of scared him, and he said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘You have a blessed day and God bless you,’” Southard said.

About 20 minutes after the armed robbery at Curry Donuts, the robber showed up at Pantry Quik on Carey Ave and demanded money.

This time, he didn't get away with it. The clerk called 911 and Migatulski ran away.

“It was a little scary but it’s a crazy neighborhood, so what are you going to do?” Pantry Quik cashier Jay Patel said.

After that, there was a fourth robbery Thursday night at Rite Aid in Pringle. Kingston Police said Migatulski is the suspect in that crime, too.

Meanwhile, workers at Curry Donuts just hope the robber turns his life around.

“I hope he changes and becomes a good person in life and apologizes for what he did,” Southard said.

Wilkes-Barre Police are planning on arraigning Migatulski for the three robberies on Friday evening. Kingston Police said the other arraignment may come on Monday.

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33 comments

Stop the drug war with objective of shutting down the black market. The drug war has failed. The drug war is driving the problems, not fixing them. Decriminalization/legalization is necessary, it needs to be backed up with public health announcements explaining exactly why it is needed. Its not in any way condoning the abuse of addictors, it is done bc the alternative, the drug war, has made things infinitely worse on almost every level, to include making drugs abundantly available to any & all that wants them.
We need to pull LE out of the drug biz – that will free up a lot of resources currently chasing their collective tails. When the laws create more harm and cause more damage than they prevent, its time to change the laws. The $1 TRILLION so-called war on drugs is a massive big government failure – on nearly every single level. Its way past time to put the cartels & black market drug dealers out of business. Mass incarceration has failed. Too many addicts are being “treated” in hospital emergency rooms (in OD cases with no follow up) and county jails, which is most expensive and least effective. We cant even keep drugs out of a contained & controlled environment like prison.
We need the science of addiction causation to guide prevention, treatment, recovery & public policies. Otherwise, things will inexorably just continue to worsen & no progress will be made. Addiction causation research has continued to show that some people (suffering with addiction) have a “hypo-active endogenous opioid/reward system.” This is the (real) brain disease, making addiction a symptom, not a disease itself. One disease, one pathology. Policy must be made reflecting addiction(s) as the health issue it is.
The war on drugs is an apotheosis of the largest & longest war failure in history. It actually exposes our children to more harm & risk and does not protect them whatsoever. In all actuality, the war on drugs is nothing more than an international projection of a domestic psychosis. It is not the “great child protection act,” its actually the complete opposite. Let’s remember, drug prohibition is a historical and cultural aberration, just 100 years old. We had fewer drug problems in my own grandparents’ time when opium, morphine, heroin, cocaine and cannabis could all still be bought legally over the counter. (Re)legalizing would not be a “risky social experiment”, as some think. On the contrary, drugs prohibition was & is the reckless social experiment. Alcohol prohibition didn’t work, and drug prohibition is an epic failure as well. The longer we’ve had drug prohibition laws in place, the worse the social and health problems they cause gotten.
The lesson is clear: Drug laws do not stop people from harming themselves, but they do cause addicts to commit crimes and harm others. We need a new approach that decriminalizes the disease. We must protect society from the collateral damage of addiction and stop waging war on ourselves. We need common sense harm reduction approaches desperately. MAT (medication assisted treatment) and HAT (heroin assisted treatment) must be available options. Of course, MJ should not be a sched drug at all.

Gopher Grace

get real

Get your “thumbs down buttons” ready Lloyd et al– I’ve got a doozy for y’all Has it ever occurred to you the “opioid crisis” (which by the way has suddenly now became a crisis because white people have started dying — it was an non-issue when it a was an inner city problem), is the direct result of the “trickle down” that never happened as promised ever since Bush’s tax cuts to the rich began in 2002? It is a fact that the 20 richest Americans have accumulated more wealth than the lowest 150,000,000. They pay nothing or next to nothing in taxes and now will pay even less under the new trump plan — in spite of the fact that they and their companies utilize an inordinate amount of the public infrastructure. At the same time, our schools have been decimated and we rank near the bottom in every category of the rankings of countries in the “developed” world and in fact are beat by many “third world” countries in areas like science and math. So put 2+2 together. The richest are taking jobs overseas, places like NEPA keep bleeding living wage jobs from the area and one is left with minimum or near minimum wage jobs with no future. People in NEPA have a broken educational system which doe not afford them any opportunity for training into new industries and now you have good, honest middle-age people working at dirt-wage jobs McDonalds or waterparks with no hope for a future. And then you wonder why people turn to drugs? Thumbs down away! — although you don’t know why — it just don’t sound right to y’all.

get real

I agree with you completely on the general idea of “personal responsibility.” That is not a liberal or conservative idea — it just makes sense. However having said that, there are people, who through no fault of their own, at some point might need a helping hand. I believe in providing those opportunities, be it a chance at rehab, schooling/training and affordable higher ed in general. It is a cheap investment compared to crime/incarceration etc. We certainly always seem to find the resources to give billion dollar “helping hands” to the billionaire banker/investment Goldman-Sachs type thieves (who are now in the WH) when they screw up.

Lloyd Schmucatelli

get real

Thanks for the thumbs up Lloyd! By the way, I did call call up Bush — you’re right– he didn’t know him. He said he can’t be bothered with people who have less than 50 million dollars. I tried trump too and he didn’t know him either and said he can’t be bothered by people who have less than 100 million dollars except at election time when he throws out hunks of meat like guns, walls and abortions…

Mandy

Well my friends have been dying from heroin in that valley since 92. Just lost another one last year, she made it 20 years as an addict and guess what. They are all white. So it started during Clinton’s admin and exploded in Obamas. But then democrats start all of the social programs for addicts that they steal our money to pay for so it’s very lucrative for them and they are bought and paid for by healthcare companies who provide services like rehab (Clinton) and big pharma who provides suboxone, narcan and other drugs (Obama). Why else would Obama pass a bill that would stop the DEA from investigating drug companies.

Mandy

I almost forgot Obamas QE is the reason for the huge wealth gap because he overinflated the stock market so his friends could become billionaires. Clinton campaigned for and passed NAFTA which is where your jobs went and the Democrats control education. Which is why our schools are a mess as they are more concerned with being PC ( communists) than actually teaching anything.

give me a break

I’ll just pick one of your parroted Fox News/Limbaugh talking points. Explain to me exactly how he (Obama) “overinflated” the stock market “for his friends.” You are a sheep. Worse even: if that were somehow true, as a trumpist, you should be happy with that — that is the whole “trickle down” theory which the GOP/trump keeps selling.– make me richer and I’ll pee down excess riches to you!… And then if you want we can go into the other inane statements (I won’t say comments because you have no idea of their veracity or have any means to critically analyze). Turn off the TV and go to school — take a course in macroeconomics.

mandy

I’m sorry you’ve confused FACTS with parroted talking points. What other FACTS that anyone can actually look up for themselves would you like to contest. My friends dying, QE causing the stock market to explode, Bill Clinton campaigning for and passing NAFTA with a Democrat controlled congress, Clinton making HMO’s legal or Obama signing a bill in April 2016 preventing the DEA from investigating drug companies. Just curious because those are all FACTS that can be easily confirmed but I know you have issues with FACTS which means your an intolerant liberal, probably a teacher. Nice job at labeling, name calling and projecting hate onto someone who challenges your ABSOLUTE lies by the way. That’s what liberals do anytime someone has FACTS that they can’t dispute.

mnopq

Im poor, never turned to drugs to drown my sorrows about it, I keep working and guess what, eventually I get caught up, we dont all get to be rich, life has no guarantees, but at least we all get a shot

E

warningfakenews

“I hope he changes and becomes a good person in life and apologizes for what he did,” Southard said.

Regina gets it. No evil in her heart. Instead of wishing revenge, she bestowed upon him the wish for enlightenment. Yes, the suspect should face consequences if found guilty, but our forgiveness and blessings define how our own world will be. Do we want one filled with hate or love? It’s our choice, choose wisely.

yuiki

Rurbanite

warningfakenews

Consequences- yes. Part of the operation of a civilized society, revenge- no. If Trump seeks revenge, then Trump damages his own cause, in that instance. Of course, the same is true of democrats.

Unfortunately, we really have a very limited supply of perfect humans to pick from, so when we’ve aligned ourselves with an imperfect one, hopefully you’ll understand why. Seems like democrats have the same problem here, too.

So.. we vote for the people who will likely serve our interests best and let it go at that.

Nobama

Nobama

So what exactly has President Trump done to pit us against each other? Long before he was elected I disliked criminals, thugs, terrorists, pedophiles, homosexuals, wife beaters, racists, bigots, bums, and illegal aliens. So tell me again how securing our borders, deporting illegals, incarcerating crooks, and bringing jobs back to the USA is bad?

HildaMad

This county needs President Trump to clean it up, How unifying it will be when the criminals are actually getting put away, so the rest of us can enjoy life more, unlike the past administration who gave birth to a host of hideous criminals like antifa & black lives matter etc